Wilton, Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton; Wilton, Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton [Editor]: The art of needle-work from the earliest ages: including some notices of the ancient historical tapestries (London: Henry Colburn Publishers, 1841)

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NEEDLEWORK OF ROYAL LADIES.

British matron; it was hers to combine with the
chilling etiquette of regal state the winning virtues
of private life, and to weave a wreath of domestic
virtues, social charities, and beguiling though sim-
ple occupations, round the stately majesty of Eng-
land’s throne.
The days are past when it would be either plea-
surable or profitable for the Queen of the British
empire to spend her days, like Matilda or Katha-
rine, “ in poring over the interminable mazes of
tapestrybut it is well known that Queen Adelaide,
and, in consequence of hei’ Majesty’s example, those
around her, habitually occupied their leisure mo-
ments in ornamental needlework; and there have
been, of late years, few Bazaars throughout the king-
dom, for really beneficent purposes, which have not
been enriched by the contributions of the Queen
Dowager—contributions ever gladly purchased at a
high price, not for their intrinsic worth, but be-
cause they had been wrought by a hand which every
Englishwoman had learnt to respect and love.